Summary

This trends and best practices evaluation geared toward
motor vehicle theft prevention with a particular focus on the Watch
Your Car (WYC) program was conducted between October 2002 and March
2004. On-site and telephone interviews were conducted with
administrators from 11 of 13 WYC member states. Surveys were mailed to
the administrators of auto theft prevention programs in 36 non-WYC
states and the 10 cities with the highest motor vehicle theft rates.
Completed surveys were returned from 16 non-WYC states and five of the
high auto theft rate cities. Part 1, the survey for Watch Your Car
(WYC) program members, includes questions about how respondents
learned about the WYC program, their WYC related program activities,
the outcomes of their program, ways in which they might have done
things differently if given the opportunity, and summary questions
that asked WYC program administrators for their opinions about various
aspects of the overall WYC program. The survey for the nonmember
states, Part 2, and cities, Part 3, collected information about motor
vehicle theft prevention within the respondent's state or city and
asked questions about the respondent's knowledge of, and opinions
about, the Watch Your Car program.

Citation

Curtin, Patrick, Thomas, David, Felker, Daniel B., and Weingart, Eric. Assessing Trends and Best Practices of Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention Programs in the United States, 2003. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-09-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04278.v1

Smallest Geographic Unit

Part 1: State, Part 2: State, Part 3: City

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Time Period(s)

2002-10 -- 2004-04

Date of Collection

2002-10 -- 2004-04

Data Collection Notes

This data collection does not include data from the
on-site interview conducted with the Watch Your Car program
representative from Massachusetts or the telephone interview with the
representative from Washington. Likewise, this data collection does
not include the cost analysis data.

Study Purpose

The goal of the study was to research and
identify trends and best practices that were geared toward motor
vehicle theft prevention with a particular focus on the Watch Your Car
program. The Watch Your Car program (WYC), sponsored by the Bureau of
Justice Assistance (BJA), involves motor vehicle owners who
voluntarily place stickers in their windshields that alert police that
they can stop the car for a theft check during certain hours of the
night and in certain locations.

Study Design

The current study was a trends and best practices
evaluation of motor vehicle theft prevention methods, with particular
focus on the Watch Your Car program, conducted from October 2002
through March 2004. The Watch Your Car program (WYC), sponsored by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), involves motor vehicle owners who
voluntarily place stickers in the windshields that alert police that
they can stop the car for a theft check during certain hours of the
night and in certain locations. On-site interviews were conducted with
WYC administrators from Arizona, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and
Massachusetts. For the remaining WYC member states, the member survey
was distributed in advance of a phone interview with instructions to
review and answer the survey. During the telephone interview, the
survey was reviewed and there was discussion of issues that were
brought up by the respondent or by their answers to the survey
questions. If the WYC administrator had not completed the survey by
the time the site visit or telephone interview was conducted, they
were asked to return the completed survey form as soon as possible.
Follow up calls were made to the administrators of WYC programs who
had not returned the survey. In order to find contact information for
non-WYC states and the ten cities with the highest vehicle theft
rates, relevant state or city police web sites were reviewed looking
for specific information about vehicle theft prevention. If there was
a phone number specifically for vehicle theft prevention, it was
used. Otherwise, the main police information phone number was
used. The purpose of the call was explained and contact information
was collected on the person to whom the survey about vehicle theft
prevention methods could sent. For nonmember states, the contact
information usually led to an individual within the state police,
highway patrol, or department of public safety. For the ten cities,
the contact information usually led to an employee within the police
department. It was thought that there may be regional difference in
the way motor vehicle theft prevention was handled, and therefore
seven versions of the survey for the non-WYC states were created.
Likewise, three versions of the survey for the ten cities with the
highest motor vehicle theft rates were created. The surveys were
regionalized by asking respondents how certain aspects of their region
of the country or their city might impact their approach to motor
vehicle theft prevention. The groupings for the regional state surveys
were based on geographic region with consideration given to the
influence of such factors as proximity to international borders and
ports. Except for the regionally oriented questions, the format and
content of the questions within the surveys was held constant. As the
site visits and interviews with the WYC member states came to a close,
the regional surveys to the motor vehicle theft prevention
administrators in the nonmember states and the ten cities with the
highest motor vehicle theft rates were distributed. As the response
rates began to slow for these two groups, electronic versions of the
nonmember and city surveys were created. In an attempt to increase
the response rate, these electronic forms were sent by email to those
individuals and agencies who had not yet responded.

Sample

Surveys were sent to 47 states, Washington D.C., the United
States Virgin Islands, and the island of St. Croix. Three states,
Idaho, Kansas, and Wisconsin were excluded because they did not deal
with auto theft prevention at the state level. Watch Your Car program
(WYC) members were identified through their various Web sites.
Similarly, the contact person for nonmember states was identified
through a search of state police Web sites. Surveys were also sent to
the 10 cities cited by the National Insurance Crime Bureau as having
the highest auto theft rates, with the contact person identified
through a search of the city's police Web site.

Universe

All administrators of auto theft prevention programs in
all states, cities, or insular areas of the United States between
October 2002 and March 2004.

Unit(s) of Observation

program

Data Source

Data for this collection were obtained from on-site
interviews, telephone interviews, and questionnaires mailed to the
respondents.

Data Type(s)

survey data

Mode of Data Collection

on-site questionnaire

mail questionnaire

telephone interview

Description of Variables

Part 1, the survey for Watch Your Car (WYC) program
members consisted of 48 open and closed-ended questions that were
divided among five major sections including: how they learned about
the WYC program, their WYC related program activities, the outcomes of
their program, ways in which they might have done things differently
if given the opportunity, and summary questions that asked WYC program
administrators for their opinions about various aspects of the overall
WYC program. The survey for the nonmember states, Part 2, and cities,
Part 3, were divided into two sections. The first section collected
information about motor vehicle theft prevention within the
respondent's state or city. The second section addresses the
respondent's knowledge of, and opinions about, the Watch Your Car
program.

Response Rates

Completed surveys were received from 11 of the 13
Watch Your Car (WYC) member states for a response rate of 85
percent. For nonmember states, 36 surveys were sent out, of which 16
were returned, for a response rate of 44 percent. For the 10 cities
with the highest motor vehicle theft rates there was a response rate
of 50 percent, with 5 out the 10 surveys sent out returned.

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